Saturday, February 7, 2015

Found Tandy and PCjr. Versions

Since that post, several of these versions have been found and tested by me. I would like to talk about the ones I have found and personally tested since that post.

B.C.'s Quest for Tires
There are two versions of this game, one with a Sierra copyright only screen and another with a Sierra and Tandy copyright logo screen. Regardless of whether the game is played on the PC, PCjr. or Tandy 1000, there is only PC speaker sound effects. RGB graphics are the same on all three systems, but the PC and Tandy share the same composite color graphics patterns. If a PCjr. is detected, the game displays different composite color graphics patterns that show appropriate colors on a color composite monitor or TV.

The original Sierra version may only support color composite graphics. Only a hard drive conversion exists, and there is no proper PCjr. support in it. Here are some screenshots of the various graphics modes :

Unfortunately, unlike the Tandy Composite Graphics, I have no way of simulating PCjr. Composite Graphics. (Tandy 640x200 Composite = DOSBox CGA machine type, SVN set to Late CGA, use Hue 140 degrees). The PC and Tandy use the 640x200 resolution for its composite color graphics. However, as you can see, Tandy and Sierra put absolutely no effort into making sure color composite graphics looked appropriate for its 1000 series.

Below the Root - Tandy
PCjr. version supports 3-voice music in intro, but this only works if a PCjr. is detected. The Tandy label release behaves identically on a PC and a Tandy 1000, no changes to the graphics, no PCjr. music on bootup.

Bruce Lee
This booter supports 160x200x16 color graphics and 3-voice music (title screen only) and sound effects when played on a PCjr. PC and Tandy use CGA graphics, composite or RGB selectable, and PC speaker sound. Screenshots for all there graphics types are here : http://www.mobygames.com/game/pc-booter/bruce-lee/screenshots Note that the PCjr. graphics use 20-column text and the PC graphics use 40-column text

Crossfire
The PCjr. disk version of this game, compared to the cartridge or PC disk version has a 3-voice piece of music which can fortunately be turned off. It also uses more than four colors on the screen at a time and has three speed settings. Keyboard keys can be redefined and high scores can be saved to disk. However, the PCjr. cartridge version uses 2x2 sized bullets, whereas both disk versions use a 1x1 pixel It is easier to progress in the cartridge version for this reason. Here are some screenshots to compare the Cartridge and Disk versions, and you can find screenshots of the PC CGA disk version at : http://www.mobygames.com/game/pc-booter/crossfire/screenshots

Demon's Forge
There was a PCjr. release of this game and Mastertonic re-released it later with 16-color 320x200 graphics support for Tandys. Unfortunately it's Tandy detection relied on the absence of a DMA controller, which was present in most models. Additionally, the Retrograde Station image (Mastertronic) was broken for the PCjr. and machines with an 8088 or 8086 CPU. The DOS conversion has since been fixed to run on the PCjr., 8088/8086 machines and DMA-equipped Tandys. No 3-voice sound support. Screenshots of all three modes can be found here, with a caveat : http://www.mobygames.com/game/pc-booter/demons-forge/screenshots The caveat is that the CGA with RGB monitor should show red, not magenta, in the screenshots. The game has since been patched to work on DMA Tandys and the PCjr.

Donald Duck's Playground
The Retrograde Station booter image was broken so that the game would refuse to work if it detected a PCjr. or Tandy 1000. It would only give CGA RGB or Composite Color and PC Speaker sound. It has since been fixed. I have since found a true DOS installable version of this game, but I cannot be certain whether it was actually released.

Falcon - Tandy
http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/falcon/cover-art - Box with the Tandy sticker specifically advertises 16-Color/Enhanced Sound Version Included! The Tandy version came on a separate 5.25" disk, and while the non-Tandy releases came on one 5.25" and 3.5" disk, I believe that unless the disk has the Tandy sticker, it will not include the Tandy version. No EGA support.

Hardball - Tandy
This box indicates that a Tandy upgrade disk existed : http://www.mobygames.com/game/hardball/cover-art/gameCoverId,211542/ Also, the graphics selection screen also instructs the user to insert disk 3 for Tandy (disk 1 is CGA and Hercules, disk 2 is EGA). Because you had to send away for it, it is rare. The Tandy support is like Test Drive, only the Tandy graphics are be supported, not the Tandy sound chip.

King's Quest I
This game in its AGI form was constantly in print from 1984 to at least 1990. Sierra kept periodically updating it as their AGI engine evolved. I recently acquired version 1.0U, which uses AGI interpreter 2.272. This was one of the earliest AGI engine versions to support hard disk installation, but like version 1.1A of Space Quest and 1.01 of King's Quest III, there are no drop down menus. The Escape key pauses the game. To change the animation speed, you need to type slow, normal or fast. F4 does not do the "see object" function." You quit with Alt + Z, just like the later release. Here is the title screen :

King's Quest v1.0U, note the erroneous red leaf in the lower right corner

King's Quest II
Tandy released a version for the 1000 computers, Tandy version under its own label, but it works in a PC and PCjr. Here is the title screen :

King's Quest II Tandy Version - Title Screen

The game is otherwise identical to version 1.1H.

Lost Tomb
This game supports 160x200x16 color graphics and 3-voice music and sound effects when played on a PCjr. PC and Tandy use CGA graphics and PC speaker sound. Screenshots of both graphics types here : http://www.mobygames.com/game/pc-booter/lost-tomb/screenshots Note that there is no choice with a PC, the graphics you get depends solely on the monitor.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2.12
There are separate versions of 2.12 for the PC and Tandy, and both use the same composite color and RGB graphics and both use PC Speaker sound. The difference is in the keyboard support. In the PC 2.12 version, the PCjr and PC keyboards are supported, and in the Tandy 2.12 version, the Tandy 1000 and Tandy 1200 keyboards (the latter functions identically to the PC keyboard) are supported.

All 2.xx versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator support the PCjr. and all offer a 16-color low resolution 160x200 graphics mode in addition to the 320x200 4-color high resolution graphics mode. This 16-color low resolution graphics mode is offered in the Tandy version for the Tandy 1000. I am not sure about the 2.13 or 2.14 versions. Also, there does not appear to be 3-voice sound support on the PCjr., despite what MobyGames thinks.

The graphics patterns for the color composite mode are the same for the PC and Tandy versions, but when a PCjr. is detected, they are somewhat different. Also, the Tandy version will work in a PC because the Tandy 1200 (an XT clone) is supported, but not in a PCjr. Here are some screenshots of each version :

Music Construction Set - IBM Music Feature
http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?44477-WTB-Music-Construction-Set-(IBM-Music-Feature-edition) - Apparently there exists a version of EA's Music Construction Set with explicit support for the IBM Music Feature Card. The card is rare and this version is much rarer. It has been found and described here :http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2015/02/electronic-arts-music-construction-set.html
It still supports the PC Speaker and especially the Tandy 3-voice sound, because the system requirements sticker indicates the software works on Tandy 1000s, but the IBM Music Feature itself will not fit inside a Tandy 1000's case!Oil's Well
The Retrograde Station booter was broken so that it would not load past the title screen with the PCjr. The original disk was not dumped perfectly, so the issue cannot be truly fixed until it is. In the meantime, there is a fix that allows the game to work in the PCjr. with the RGB colors corresponding to the composite colors of the CGA. PC Speaker sound only. Here are some screenshots of the "fixed" PCjr. version :

The title screen is absolutely correct, the Retrograde Station booter would get that far on a PCjr.

Touchdown Football
Tandy released a version, and on the copyright screen, the announcer will say "Imagic and Tandy present" rather than "Imagic and IBM present". The same voice is used, and must be run on a 4.77MHz 8088 machine to hear the voice with the proper pitch. You can hear voice samples from both the Tandy and PCjr. versions in this blog entry : http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2014/09/non-pc-speaker-digitized-sound-part-ii.html

Gameplay is the same, but the game will probably run too slowly on a PCjr. Here is a screenshot of the copyright screen :

Touchdown Football Tandy Version - Copyright Screen

You can find screenshots of the IBM copyright screen, the title screen and in-game screens (common to both versions) here : http://www.mobygames.com/game/pc-booter/touchdown-football/screenshots

Ultima II - Revenge of the Enchantress - PC & PCjr.
All the available versions are from the Origin Systems re-release, either from one of the Ultima compilations or from the Ultima Trilogy. The original Sierra On-line release is not available. The Sierra release for the IBM PC has differences in the text and different sound effects. Sierra also released a version for the IBM PCjr. which has the graphic patterns re-arranged so they give appropriate colors on a color composite monitor, see here : http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=41889Wizard and the Princess
This game was originally released for the PC under IBM's label as Adventure in Serenia. Sierra later released the game for the PCjr. under its original title and used 320x200 graphics. Still only supports PC Speaker sound and will not run on a Tandy with more than 128KB. You can see screenshots of the RGB CGA, composite color CGA and PCjr graphics here :